These songs frame military service as a religious obligation, lionize fallen warriors, and portray Sudan’s ongoing war as part of a wider historic Islamic jihad. Called nasheed (Arabic: نَشِيد, pl. anasheed), they are sung without instrumental accompaniment, except for clapping or simple percussion.
The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), which portrays itself internationally as an apolitical institution battling to uphold the state against an existential threat, promotes the circulation of such songs on state media, in military training camps, and at public gatherings to shape public opinion about the war.
In the course of preparing this article, our researchers identified numerous videos in which top SAF commanders and officers sing jihadist songs alongside Islamist militants. This illustrates that this music is a deep-rooted part of Sudanese military culture, especially on the SAF side of the conflict.
Like nasheed in international jihadist contexts, Sudanese nasheed go beyond mere battle hymns and elegies. They also address political and cultural themes, promoting a counter-cultural “Islamic Resurgence” that opposes secularism, democracy, and alleged non-Islamic conceptions of society.
More at the link, including jihadis singing off key